


Sigh No More

by FunkyinFishnet



Category: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Movies)
Genre: Dinner, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Male Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24008392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkyinFishnet/pseuds/FunkyinFishnet
Summary: Shelly is an in-demand genius with maps and everything else he crams into his fantastic brain. There's no way he'd be interested in a dropout pilot like Seaplane. But Seaplane's in the area so he has to visit his amazing friend, he can't miss out on Shelly.
Relationships: Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough/Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 68





	Sigh No More

**Author's Note:**

> Written because this film fired up my inspiration and I've loved reading the fics for it here. I thought I'd give a wee twist to this pairing. Hope it's an enjoyable one!
> 
> Title from 'Much Ado About Nothing' by William Shakespeare.

Seaplane was getting stares but he was too focused on finding Shelly's office to offer anything but a distracted smile. He didn't notice the disappointed student sighs or the whispers that followed him down the hallway, especially when he smiled and his face lit up as he realised he'd found the office, he'd found Shelly.

He didn’t go straight in. His heart was beating a little fast. The last time he’d seen Shelly had been just off the coast of Jamaica, four months ago, at the end of another mission from the Doc. After every mission, Seaplane had found Shelly in his thoughts more and more - those deft capable hands as they smoothed out and interpreted another map, the way his eyes lit up as he recognised something in the landscape or under the earth that could help them, how he instantly obeyed when Seaplane told him to get down or stay still or whatever he needed to do to stay alive, because he trusted Seaplane.

Seaplane smiled again and there was another unheard sigh somewhere to his left. His smile grew as he wondered if Shelly’s eyes would light up when he saw Seaplane. They’d never seen each other outside of missions before.

Seaplane raised a fist to knock at the door, but let his knuckles silently kiss the wood instead. His heart was going even faster now and was probably louder than any knock on the door. It felt that way to him anyway, like bumpy weather that meant a terrible landing. Shelly was busy, he was always talking about the classes he taught and the digs he was consulting on and the maps he was trying to find for papers he was writing, a million different amazing smart things that he loved doing and was incredible at. There was no way he was gonna have space or  **interest** in a dropout pilot who wasn’t bringing news of their next Bravestone mission.

Seaplane frowned, his head bowed and heart beating hard for a different reason now. Why was he here again? What was the point? Shelly wasn’t going to drop work to spend time with Seaplane, not when they always caught up on missions - Shelly’s glasses glinting by firelight, his expressive face doing incredible things as he listened to one of Seaplane’s stories, the warmth of his body whenever he was close enough to touch (accidentally on purpose). He never noticed though. Seaplane should go and stop wasting both their time. It felt like there was lead in his stomach, again.

But Shelly was right there, on the other side of that door, and who knew when Seaplane would next get to see him? Sometimes it was months between missions. That propelled Seaplane past the door, a disappointed swell of murmurs going unnoticed behind him.

Inside the office, all Seaplane could see for a moment was books. A couple of walls were flanked by shelves that were crammed with books. Of course. There was a heavy-looking desk loaded with books and papers too, scattered with pens and fossils, and boxes were stacked in one corner of the room. There was a framed photograph up featuring the team. It made Seaplane’s heart jolt and yearn - Shelly kept them all here. If nothing else happened today, if Seaplane didn’t even see Shelly, it was enough to know he was that important. Shelly wasn't there though; Seaplane looked around some more.

There was a box of blankets tucked down beside a couch that’d definitely seen better days and Seaplane realised, seeing pillows sat with the blankets, that this wasn't just Shelly's office. This was where he lived. It was probably a lot like walking around Shelly’s brain. Seaplane ran a thumb along the cluttered desk.

Then a door half hidden by the angle of a bookshelf opened suddenly and Shelly walked in, nose buried in a book. He went straight to the desk, not disturbing anything on his way through the clutter. Seaplane smiled, his eyes full of Shelly, watching as Shelly sat at his desk and grabbed a pencil to mark something in the book, fingers reaching for a compass and a stack of papers. Seaplane wanted to take those glasses off him and...Seaplane’s throat constricted. He was in really deep here, and Shelly didn’t know a thing. Seaplane could...no, he couldn’t leave, not when Shelly was there with the furrow Seaplane loved between his eyebrows, hands working dexterously between papers and compass.

He sighed, shifting some of Shelly’s papers, and Shelly looked up right away. He blinked at Seaplane, then his eyes went huge and wide and he stood so suddenly, a couple of books teetered off his desk. 

“Jefferson! What are you doing here?”

Shelly was the only person who got away with calling Seaplane that. It didn’t even make Seaplane wince, instead he couldn’t stop grinning, because Shelly was happy to see him. Nothing felt constricted now, Seaplane was still in so deep, the water was way over his head but it felt like take off too and he’d always followed that feeling, even when it led to a crash landing.

Shelly reached out to squeeze Seaplane’s hand between both of his and looked him over, like he was checking Seaplane wasn’t injured since they’d last met. Seaplane’s grin softened and his heart did a yearning thing. Shelly worried about him.

“Are the others here? Has Bravestone got the scent of something he can’t refuse again?” Shelly asked, before Seaplane could even start answering. “I’ll need to talk to the Dean. He’s thrilled about the prestige but-.”

“It’s just me,” Seaplane cut in, as Shelly gathered up books like he was gonna start packing. “There’s no trail to follow, I was in the country so I thought I’d come see my friend. I know how busy you are, of course-.”

Shelly dropped the books and waved away Seaplane’s words, “No, no. It’s...it’s wonderful to see you. I have coffee here, what time is it? Can you stay for dinner?”

Shelly wanted to see him, Shelly thought it was  **wonderful** to see him. Shelly wanted to have dinner with him. Seaplane’s grin was never going to leave.

“We got a different kind of pay last time I thought we could have it for dinner, seeing as you missed out. Is there someplace we can make a fire pit?”

Shelly blinked again and Seaplane could practically see his thoughts connecting like cogs. He’d  **missed** that, his heart yearned again. Shelly was nodding.

“There’s room in my garden.”

Seaplane had been right about Shelly’s office - he definitely lived there more than his house. The house was impressive though and it was full of books and artifacts, some Seaplane recognised. It was more like a storehouse than a home. But there were pictures from newspapers pinned up, of the Doc and Mouse and Ruby and Seaplane. Seaplane touched one as Shelly bustled around. 

“There was a folly, it was torn down before I bought the property. There’s a lot of stonework left. Branches too, the trees haven’t been trimmed in months.”

Seaplane had a flash then of Shelly in his shirtsleeves, climbing trees to trim their branches. Wow. Shelly himself would have said that was impossible months ago but Seaplane had seen him climb a tree since, to escape from charging rhinos. Necessity had shown how amazingly Shelly shone in every situation.

Like now, Shelly could set up a fire circle, instead of a fire pit, and get the flames burning in a pile of dry grass and branches. He didn’t need Seaplane. He looked amazed at the large cuts of meat though, wrapped tightly in wax paper and stored in an airtight travel crate. 

“This was your reward?”

“You should have seen Mouse’s face. Some of the animals here are rarely shared with outsiders, it’s a huge honour.”

They set the steaks in a pan on the fire and Shelly offered water, he didn’t have any beer. They sat side by side, close enough to touch. Seaplane enjoyed the view - Shelly by firelight again, the memory he kept coming back to. And Shelly had dumped his jacket and rolled back his sleeves. He was a strange sight without his thick jungle jacket and pith helmet. Strange but great. Seaplane hardly felt the fat popping from the nearby sizzling steaks.

He hadn’t come here with many expectations - Shelly was a busy man, always in demand. Seaplane was just a pilot Shelly saw when the Doc came calling. But here they were, sharing space by the fire again. Seaplane tilted his foot closer.

They swapped news about their teammates - Doc and Mouse were in Brazil, Ruby never said where she’d be but she had sent Shelly postcards. He kept them carefully pressed and preserved in one of his heavier atlases. Ruby would definitely be pleased about that; she didn’t like anyone knowing her business.

“Last time I saw Mouse, he said there might be a mission brewing in Zambia,” Seaplane revealed, turning the steaks and nodding for Shelly to grab a plate.

Shelly wielded a knife and began precisely cutting up his meat, offering Seaplane bread to mop up the fat. His eyes lit up at the mention of a mission.

“Really? There’s been fascinating rumours coming out of there, but no one’s been granted permission to enter the borders in months.”

Seaplane crooked his eyebrows, “Doc’s never needed permission, Shelly.”

Shelly nodded in agreement, digging into the meat and moaning slightly in a way that made Seaplane take a very deep breath.

“I don’t have much experience on that continent,” Shelly said, then swallowed his mouthful. “Sorry. So I may not be the most practically knowledgeable expert-.”

“Doc’s not gonna want to mess with our team magic,” Seaplane quickly tells him. “He likes the way the team works, we’ve got everything covered. You work magic with the scraps you get sometimes. You can research Zambia and I bet you have more than one atlas covering it.”

Shelly looked pleased and sort of pink but that was probably the firelight. Doc wouldn’t replace him, no way. Doc would have said something to Seaplane if he’d been planning it, which he hadn’t. Seaplane shoved that thought far away where he didn’t have to think about it. A mission without Shelly felt like a crash landing.

“You’re kind but it’s not like maneuvering a plane through dense treetops, while avoiding enemy fire and plotting a brand new flight path when the original one is no longer viable,” Shelly replied.

Seaplane stared. Shelly  **was** pink and now wide-eyed as he realised what he’d just said. They were staring at each other now and Seaplane’s heart was back to being louder than any drumming they’d heard back in Jumanji. Shelly pinked talking about what Seaplane did, he stayed close, and shared dinner. Oh, he was  **wearing** dinner.

Seaplane’s fingers automatically left his plate and brushed Shelly’s thick stubbly chin, because Shelly never noticed stuff like that when he was concentrating on something fascinating but Seaplane did. He couldn’t stop. His heartbeat felt like it was drowning him out.

“You’ve got something right there.”

A scrap of meat fell between them. Seaplane’s fingers stayed, thoughts spinning to a new horizon. Did Shelly think  **he** was fascinating? Shelly wasn’t moving away, his eyes were still wide.

“Jefferson,” he breathed.

Seaplane smiled hopelessly, his heartbeat filling his ears at the impossible direction his evening was taking, “You’re the only one who ever calls me that.”

“Oh, do you want me to stop?”

Seaplane shook his head, “No, God, please don’t.”

He could feel how close the horizon was now, clear and beautiful. How had that happened when he’d been sure of cloud earlier? He kissed Shelly very gently. Shelly was still under Seaplane’s mouth at first, tasting of rich gorgeous meat. But when Jefferson slowly pulled him closer, Shelly started to move, clumsy but enthusiastic, passionate. Heat punched through Seaplane, engine-hot. He loved how warm and soft Shelly was, not as soft as he once was thanks to the Doc, but he was still **Shelly**. Seaplane loved that.

The fire crackled and it was so right for this to happen outdoors, by firelight. Seaplane’s arms tightened around Shelly and Shelly murmured in awe,

“Jefferson, are you real?”

The heat in Seaplane went disbelievingly delighted and yearning, his hands unwilling to let go because, “Have you...have you been  **dreaming** about me?”

He had to kiss Shelly again, adding between kisses, “I’m as real as the Valley of the Kings, and the Jaguar’s Eye, and the wings on my ride.”

Shelly moaned and Seaplane’s thigh pressed closer, right between Shelly’s legs. Shelly slowly opened his eyes. The firelight danced in his glasses and he was looking at Seaplane like Seaplane was the best map he’d ever laid eyes on. Seaplane’s heart, no, every part of him, yearned.

Then Shelly  **surged** forward and Seaplane brought them both in to land.

_-the end_


End file.
